Shifter and the Legend of EMIT
by ShifterTheHedgehog
Summary: Shifter lives in an alternate timeline to Sonic The Hedgehog's, and is a Shape Shifting, Time Traveling counterpart of our favorite Blue Blur. Only, in the world of EMIT, where Shifter has grown up as a Prince, things are about to get hairy as a rebellion begins a war against Empire of Time. Only Shifter and his friend Watch can stop Eggman's even eviler self... Jiveil Frantik.
1. Prologue

_**SHIFTER AND THE LEGEND OF EMIT**_

**Hello, readers! As a side-story to my current one, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, this Sonic Fan Fiction will have no restrictions, meaning I can post a new Chapter whenever I want to.**

**Enjoy!**

_**PROLOGUE**_

In a world parallel to Mobius, yet not Moebius, the anti-Mobius, exists an empire that lived in peace with the robot horde run by Professor Jiveil Frantik. The empire was known as the Time Empire, because many of those in the empire had the ability to temporarily commit changes to time itself.

Because of this, Jiveil lives in constant fear that a single slip-up could cause an all-out war between the two groups.

There was only one way to destroy them.

Frantik, a mastermind in Robotics, created a device which could negate the changes that are made by the Time Shifters. One day the Professor brought the weapon, concealing it as a gift to King Emit, ruler of the Time Empire.

To ensure that the "gift" was safe, the King paused time and approached the device.

As soon as he discovered what it really was, he turned to find none other then Jiveil, wielding a weapon that was aimed right for him.

That was how the war began.

With no king, the Time Empire fell into chaos, retreating to a massive labyrinth of caverns that would conceal them until they found out what was going on…

_**20 YEARS LATER…**_

Kanin sighed. She had seen no action in awhile, and as the captain of the Time Shifters, she had to let her men sharpen their blades on something.

There was one thing she could do.

"**Field Trip!"**

"Remind me why we're going on a field trip in the middle of a vacation, Captain." The Co-Captain of the Time Shifters, Shanye, queried.

Kanin grinned. "I wanted to get off my butt for once, alright? Who knows, we might run into some Anti-Shift Bots." The Captain scratched one of her pink spines, before turning back to the group.

Captain Kanin was a pink hedgehog, one of the most uncommon races on EMIT, the world where time was almost literally just a number.

Well, that's how it was until Professor Frantik came along with his secret weapon.

He's now mass-produced them and equipped all of his robots, whom he dubs, "Anti-Shift Bots" with one. No one knows what he has against time shifting animals, but, it has to be something big.

Shanye was a dark grey cat. Actually, he was a rookie in the Time Shifter army, but he had connections with people in high places, so here he was, Co-Captain.

Kanin had to admit though, he was good with a sword.

The two Captains, as well as a handful of men from the main squad of the army, walked down a trail of ashes and burnt trees, as well as skeletons of their own army, and scrap metal from Frantik's horde.

Suddenly, they came across a fire that was still burning. This mess was fresh!

"**Men, into your positions! We've got some rebel behind to kick!"**

And so the battle began.

Unable to fully optimize their time shifting abilities, the soldiers used their powerful weapons, known as Shift Swords, which shot waves of energy that paralyzed their foes. The Horde hadn't come up with any weapon that could block out this. Yet.

The formation they were in was simple: One group that headed west, and another that went east. The two captains, however, flew straight forward, into the core of the robot squad. Right into the metal of the squad leader, the Horde Master.

Somehow, Frantik had come up with a way to not only negate the time shifting abilities of the Time Army, but also use it against them in the form of a power core which he used in his Horde Masters.

Kanin and Shanye immediately began clashing with the Horde Master, while the rest of their adversaries split in two to fight the rest of the Time Shifters.

This would be an easy battle.

The Horde Master immediately shot the weaker-looking foe, Shanye, with a blast of his Slow Cannon, whilst Captain Kanin removed herself from it's view. As it began searching for it's lost foe, Kanin quickly turned off the bot from behind.

Usually, by turning off a Horde Master, the rest of the master's squad will collapse into a metal heap. This was no exception.

"_**Victory! We have won, men!"**_

Kanin reached out to give Shanye a high-five, but the cat was slowed still, so he continued to strike at mid air.

The Captain laughed and Time Shifted Shanye back into reality, sending him into confusion. "What the? Where'd the Horde Master go?"

"We beat him, silly." "Oh."

Suddenly, the teammates heard a loud cry from a small shack near the place the fire had started.

There were many fallen innocents around the area, which had probably been a small village before this attack.

When Kanin reached the shack, she found some she never thought she would.

A small, red hedgehog with the mark…

Of the EMIT Bloodline.

**Thanks for reading this prologue! I was kind of rushed, but I promise I'll make it up to you in a day or two when I make the second chapter! Until then!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone. How's the tension on the DQ IX cliff hanger? Don't worry; I publish a new chapter weekly, so expect a chapter or two this weekend! (Maybe earlier.)**

**For now, carry on with this!**

_**Chapter 1**_

_**17 years later…**_

Shifter stuck a foot up onto the fancy desk that stood in the tiny room that he referred to as his "other" throne room.

These people loved him for seventeen years, man. One more year, and he'd be old enough to be their king! Shifter didn't know what happened to his father, but he was told his mother had passed long before his birth.

He himself remembered nothing about them, except he was constantly reminded of their appearances via the many statues and portraits hanging around Emit Castle. And by his servants, who constantly assured him they were good people, who would be proud of Shifter.

He doubted it though. There was almost nothing to do but sit back and play around with time, as he waited impatiently for another attack by the Horde.

Whenever the Horde finally did attack, the soldiers ushered him into a safe-zone, where he had to remain until after the ambush. Boring.

Shifter sighed, and once again began fiddling with time, watching as the smoke and soot that flew in the air outside his window slowed to a halt, and began to go backwards.

Just then, Watch, a green hedgehog, who, ironically, always wore a watch that amplified his Time Shifting ability, entered the room.

Hedgehogs were apparently very rare, and only Watch, his best friend, and the Time Shifter Army's captain, a woman named Kanin, who acted like a mother to Shifter, remained.

Apparently his real mother and father had been hedgehogs too, and the pictures proved it.

And, of course, Shifter himself was a red hedgehog, whom had the "mark" of the royal Emit Bloodline, a scar that symbolized a clock, buried in the fur on his forehead.

"Hey, Shift. Anything new going about?" Watch queried, calling Shifter by the nickname he always did. "Not really. Just fiddling with some smoke." Shifter looked at Watch's Time Shift Watch. "Could I try that on, and see what it feels like?"

Watch immediately shook his head, and seemed to start sweating. "N-no, that's okay, I'd rather you not… It's…special, you see." He then pulled his arm away from Shifter and headed out of the room, but then, as if remembering something, turned back to his friend for a moment. "Oh, yeah, Captain Kanin said she had something to say to you. She's waiting in the throne room. Better not keep her that way."

Kanin, a somewhat older pink hedgehog then the once you might remember from 17 years ago, stomped the floor impatiently with her left foot, looking down at an imaginary wrist watch on her wrist.

_Where is that sorry excuse for a prince?_ She thought to herself.

Ah, there he is.

The red hedgehog ran into the room, gasping for air. He must've come running when he heard that the Captain of the royal army was waiting for him in the throne room.

"Huff…huff…Sorry…Kanin…" Shifter gasped to get the words out.

Kanin sighed and turned away in disgust, before returning her gaze to the prince. "I have something very important to tell you about. Something I've been waiting to tell you until now."

Shifter perked up when he heard this. "What is it? Did I inherit something really awesome from my dad?"

"No. And when I tell you what it really is, I'd appreciate that you stayed calm."

The captain seemed to struggle to look up at the prince suddenly.

_I…don't know…if I can tell him._

She suddenly inhaled a deep breath, and released the fume of air from her lungs.

"Shifter…you…may not be-"

Before Kanin could finish her statement, a large crash, coming from the courtyard, sent guards all over astray.

"**Raise the alarm!" "Intruders!" "The Horde!"**

The prince began to hop up and down on the spot where he stood. Now he could really prove he was worthy of his ranking! He could finally beat some Horde butt!

Of course, the captain clearly disapproved. She shook her head at the giddy orphan and unsheathed her blade.

"**All troops! Regroup and prepare to defend the castle!" **

The Time Shifters yelled out their war cries, and pulled out their own weapons, following their leader into battle.

Shifter sighed.

_For once, I'd like to be actually thought of as something important._

Wait…if he were to dress in some Time Shifter gear, no one would recognize his rule breaking! But where would he find some of their possessions?

_The Armoury!_

Watch immediately ran down from the royal bedroom and into the throne room shortly after hearing the alarm being raised.

He himself was no warrior, but he had to do something. He had to protect his friend.

_I just need to dress myself…_

What…? The armoury door was open?

At last the hedgehog prince was equipped from head-to-toe in the (heavy) standard soldier's equipment.

"Ugh…this is so darned hard to wear! How do the guards walk around in this?" Shifter murmured to himself, as he awkwardly took baby steps to the exit.

Suddenly, he noticed a shadow in the doorframe, and before he could prepare himself, a green flash swung up from the armoury entrance, holding some sort of weapon that Shifter couldn't recognize until this shady foe had stopped.

"**Stop, thief!" **The familiar voice boomed.

"Shifter? I nearly clobbered you!"

The prince, who had ducked down when he first noticed the assault, now stood up, trying to make out who the person was through his helmet's visor.

"Watch!" Now lifting the weapon, which Shifter now realized was a battle hammer, the green hedgehog sighed with relief that he had never completed his attack. "What the heck are you doing in the armoury, Shift?"

Shifter sighed, hopelessness in his voice. "I was hoping I could finally be useful. I tried to steal some gear so I could go help the warriors fight."

Instead of scolding him, Watch embraced his friend. "It's cool, Shift. I was hoping to loot the place myself. We both want to help out."

The armoured prince looked up at his slightly taller pal, admiring him.

"But, you've helped me realize that, even with all the gear in this armoury, we're no match for the Horde." Shifter blinked, confused. "I know what Kanin was trying to tell you. I hope you understand why we've kept this a secret from you for so long."

The red hedgehog prepared for the secret, paying his direct attention on Watch.

"Shifter…although you have the mark of the royal bloodline…"

Another crash. But this one was closer.

A lot closer.

"**Freeze where you are, Shifters. This castle is now property of Professor Jiveil Frantik and his Horde. Surrender now and you will be moved to a local prison camp."**

_Uh oh!_

Watch turned around, only to find a Horde Master, hovering gently over one of the stone slabs that held together the floor of the castle.

He quickly returned his sight to Shifter. "Shift, you have to get out of here. Run away! You can't stay here!" Watch ushered the hedgehog to leave.

Shifter could not believe he was being told to run away again. And by his best friend, too.

Well, he wasn't leaving this time. He was going to save the day!

Quickly, the Prince of Emit hopped out of the suit of armour, grabbing the nearest sword from the closest weapon rack, and attempting to slice the Horde Master.

"**Error. Subject is attempting to rebel. New objective: Destroy."**

The Master flicked Shifter away as if he were a bug, and started to charge it's Time Cannon.

"**Shifter!"**

**Well, that's the end of chapter one! I hope you join me next time for Chapter 2, to find out what happens to Shifter and Watch…**

**As well as the entire EMIT Population…**


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry about the length of time between this and the previous chapter. I'll be updating weekly now, so keep checking back for new updates!**

**Chapter 2**

Shifter attempted to lift his hand to rub his eyes after being unconscious for so long, but found himself incapable of doing so. His eyes shot open and looked down. He was being restrained by some sort of blue energy, shackling his movement from the torso down. "What's going on?" he shouted, demanding a response. When none came, he looked around at his surroundings.

He appeared to be in some sort of spherical device that looked millenniums ahead of the technology he had seen in the kingdom of EMIT. The prince tilted his head to the left, but couldn't make out what was outside of the small containment chamber he was in. The glass orb was too thick to see through.

"Ah, you've awoken." A voice said, sounding as if it were in the same room as Shifter. Yet he couldn't see anything but cyan blue panes of glass. "Hmm?" the voice questioned. "Oh, I forgot to turn off the shutters. One moment." There was then a clicking noise from somewhere outside of the containment, and then a loud, continuous noise that sounded like a garage door opening.

Suddenly, Shifter could make out a lone figure guarded by two Horde Masters. "Hello there, Shifter…" the voice of none other than Jiveil Frantik muttered. Shifter only took moments to put two and two together to figure out who it was and tried to push himself forward into the glass containment. He found himself incapable of doing this, however, and felt almost as if his entire body were about to fall apart into a million pieces.

"Feeling a bit tired, are we? That's a common side-effect of being Timed Out." A 'Time Out' was essentially the term for removing a Time Shifter's ability to shift time temporarily. It became a popular word for the action when Frantik's army began their assault on the Time Shifter Army.

Shifter lifted his head weakly, feeling as though he were about to black out again and fell back down to the ground. Frantik grinned maliciously, turning to one of his Horde Masters. "_Epsilon #1006_, I want you to watch over this 'special' prisoner for me while I go have a little talk with the _captain_." He then turned towards a metallic door and input a security code, forcing the door to slide open, allowing him access. Shortly afterwards it slid back into its original location, revealing a purple Horde Master with the symbol for 'Epsilon' on its steel chest.

"It would be my pleasure, sir." The machine stated to itself. "It would be my pleasure…"

It didn't take long for Shifter to realize that Frantik had been referring to Kanin when he said he was going to go talk to 'the captain'. So that meant that everyone that had been at the castle at the time of the ambush had likely been captured or killed by the Horde. Shifter shook his head weakly. _I failed. If I had just listened to Watch and ran away, at least their prince could have survived. Now we're all going to die. Our Time Shifting powers will be drained from us, like all of the Horde's previous prisoners, and the Horde will successfully take EMIT for their own purposes._

What had happened back in the armory? Was Watch okay, or had he been captured as well? No, he was strong, there's no way he could have. He would have fought to the death…

_To the death…_ But did that mean that, if Watch _hadn't_ been taken prisoner, he was dead right now?

_No! He can't be!_ Shifter reassured himself. _He can't be dead._ A clicking noise snapped Shifter out of his confusion. Suddenly, he could make out the clear image of Epsilon 1006 from his containment. The machine, despite having no facial expression (or the human definition of a face at all, for that matter), appeared to be concerned about something.

"What is it like, being alive?" it queried. "Is it…nice? Is it nice to be able to feel emotion?" Shifter felt confused. A cold, heartless machine was asking him what it was like to be living. He stayed silent. "Is…the vocal recognition system on? Can you not speak?"

Shifter continued to remain silent. "Why are you not answering me?" the machine asked. The prince turned away from Epsilon. "Oh. Is it because of what my master has done to your race? I suppose analyzing this context does indeed hypothesize your conclusion of distrust and disbelief." The machine began to march back to its position, but Shifter spoke up. "Why does he hate the Time Shifters so much?" Epsilon turned its head 180 degrees to face Shifter (which was a bit disturbing). "I am unsure. It may be that your 'gift' made him nervous. Perhaps even jealous of your abilities."

The EMIT prince turned quiet again, pondering about this. He eventually spoke again. "So, he was worried that we might rise up against him and his robots?" Epsilon's eyes blinked green, its substitute for nodding. "It would appear that way."

The Horde Master pushed a button on the console beside the hedgehog's containment, turning the shutters back on. Shifter closed his eyes, imagining what it must have been like for someone to live in constant fear of such a thing.

Then images began to shoot through his mind.

First, there was nothing there. Just a black limbo as far as the eye could see. Shifter called out but no one answered his cries. Suddenly, a door appeared, and, without being manually opened, it shot open, a piercing light flooding the once black limbo. Blinded for a few moments, Shifter rubbed his eyes until he could make out the distinct figure of Frantik. However, he seemed younger… He _was_ younger: Maybe in his thirties, whereas the present Frantik was in his seventies.

Shifter ran towards Frantik, but it seemed that no matter how hard he ran, the figure of the antagonistic doctor stayed at the same distance. Was this all just a dream? An image in his head? Shifter decided to watch the events that were unfolding before him.

The younger version of Frantik was walking on a red carpet now, with royal EMIT guards saluting him as he continued on to a throne room. He appeared to be in Castle EMIT. But why would the guards just allow him to enter like this? Frantik eventually stopped, crouching down for some reason. The reason became apparent moments after, when a hedgehog in a crown stood up from his throne and unsheathed a sword. He seemed to be saying something, but Shifter couldn't make it out.

Suddenly, the 'king' aimed his blade at the doctor's left shoulder and waved it up and down, before switching to his opposite shoulder and doing the same ritual. Shifter realized what was happening from the very start, but he couldn't believe it.

Frantik was being knighted.

Shifter snapped back to reality, a metallic voice speaking to another voice of the same composition. Suddenly, a gunshot shook his containment violently, followed by a clicking noise. The shutters of the spherical prison opened and Epsilon stood clear, its arm cannon smoking from fresh gun powder being discharged. To its left was another Horde Master with a large crater in its chest, crumped up against the wall.

"Well, are you coming?"

**What a strange turn of events! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did. Check back next week for another chapter of Shifter the Hedgehog (I might even do it sooner!) Also, check out my brand new fan fiction, "The Reality of Dreaming", a Minecraft fiction.**


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